User account menu

Main navigation

Cleantech San Diego

This submission reflects this organization's contribution to the climate effort, representative of their current actions and commitments as well as the ways in which they intend to step up and collaborate with others.

Cleantech San Diego 's Climate Action Contribution

About Cleantech San Diego 's Climate Efforts

Cleantech San Diego is a trade association founded in 2007 by visionary leaders from the private, public, and academic sectors who recognized a growing cleantech industry as the next great economic opportunity for the San Diego region. They were guided by the premise that sustainable business practices are viable only if they make financial sense. Directed by this principle for the past ten years, we have seen San Diego prove time and again that investment in a low carbon economy reaps benefits for innovation, business, collaboration, education, and the environment.

Today, Cleantech San Diego represents more than 110 businesses, universities, governments, and nonprofits committed to advancing innovations that benefit the economy and the environment. Our support of the cleantech sector spans solar power, wind power, energy efficiency, energy storage, electric vehicles, water utilities, and smart cities technologies. The San Diego region currently ranks #3 in the nation for cleantech leadership and #1 in the nation for solar installations. The solar market alone accounts for 8,400 jobs in our region.

The cleantech industry is unique in that our successes are measured in dollars made as well as in energy saved and greenhouse gas emissions reduced. These win-win-win business principles not only boost economic growth, but also move our nation forward, not backward, on the path to securing cleaner air, energy independence, and prosperity for future generations. With each new solar panel installation, wind farm ribbon-cutting, smart building sensor deployment, and energy storage facility built, the cleantech industry is creating jobs in trades ranging from IT and data management to engineering and construction.

Climate Action Commitments

Current Climate Actions Cleantech San Diego Is Taking:

Commit to Responsible Engagement in Climate Policy

While individual organization action is necessary, local and federal government action is also needed to reach global climate goals. Your organization can have a critical voice in advancing public policy. A commitment to responsible engagement in climate policy means that your organization commits to supporting public policy to: promote energy efficiency and renewable energy; increase investment in a clean energy economy; support climate change adaptation, or put a price on carbon.

Commit to Building Climate Resilience in your Community

By committing to adapt to the impacts of a changing climate, companies and institutions can secure their operations and supply chains and conserve natural resources that are stressed due to climate change. While there is much a business can do within their community, primary among these options is reducing water usage. Organizations can commit to increase their own water security through a range of actions, including installing water-saving devices, capturing rainwater for onsite uses, and recycling grey water. Or just commit to get engaged with your community in resilience planning.

Commit to Reducing the Climate Impact of Your Transportation

Organizations making a commitment to reduce the climate impact of transportation should consider practices such as measuring transportation greenhouse gas emissions and setting reduction targets, switching fuels, optimizing the efficiency of shipping operations, and reducing transit- and travel-related greenhouse gas emissions. Businesses can develop a green transportation action plan to map the movement of goods to market and identify opportunities to increase efficiency. Organizations can buy hybrid and electric vehicles within their own fleet, and can reduce the footprint of their workforce through incentivizing public transportation, installing EV charging stations, promoting telework, and locating near transit centers.

Commit to Increase Energy Efficiency

Most companies begin by assessing energy usage or performing an energy audit to identify opportunities to increase energy efficiency throughout their facilities and operations. Energy reduction targets can be framed as either absolute reductions or reductions that are normalized per unit of production, such as per tons shipped, per dollars of revenue produced, or other relevant business metric. Some examples of commitments that can be taken include:

Conducting an energy audit or request a meeting with your building owner to explore scheduling an audit

Upgrading HVAC system to a more efficient model

Upgrading lights in your office/facility to LEDs

Upgrading insulation and windows

Replacing appliances in your office with Energy Star-rated models

Instituting a company policy of turning off lights other electronics when not in use.

Electric Vehicles

Encouraging more aggressive state targets for electric vehicles and GHG standards

Promoting increased charging infrastructure

Local Collaboration

Collaborate on climate and clean energy action, and to advocate for stronger climate policy at the local level

Utility Sector

Aggregating demand for renewable energy with other actors

Encouraging more aggressive state renewable energy policies

Supporting states, cities, and utilities in decarbonizing their energy supply

Organization details

Cleantech San Diego is a member-based trade organization that positions the greater San Diego region, including Imperial County, as a global leader in the cleantech economy. As a nonprofit organization, we are uniquely suited to support the cleantech industry by fostering collaborations across the private-public-academic landscape, leading advocacy efforts to promote cleantech priorities, and encouraging investment in the San Diego region.

Our members include more than 100 local businesses, universities, governments, and nonprofits committed to advancing sustainable solutions for the benefit of the economy and the environment.

We Are Still In is as a joint declaration of support for climate action, signed by more than 3,750 CEOs, mayors, governors, college presidents, and others. The organizations they represent comprise the largest and most diverse coalition of actors ever established in pursuit of climate action.